Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. Their crimes are committed as a result of a compulsion that often has roots in the killer's (often dysfunctional) youth, as opposed to those who are motivated by financial gain (e.g. contract killers) or ideological/political motivations (e.g. terrorists).

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William Burke (1792-1829) and William Hare (b. about 1792) murdered between 13 and 30 people in Edinburgh in 1827 and 1828. They sold the corpses to be used as cadavers. After they were caught, Hare turned King's Evidence and escaped the noose. Burke was hanged in January 1829.

Richard Trenton Chase, termed the 'Vampire Killer of Sacramento', claimed 6 lives in 1978, sometimes drinking the victim's blood. He was sentenced to death in the gas chamber at San Quentin Penitentiary, but in Christmas in 1980 he was found to have committed suicide in his cell.

Cannibalistic killer who preyed on homosexuals, killing 17 in total. In 1992 Dahmer was sentenced to fifteen life sentences. He ended up being beaten to death by a fellow prisoner in the Columbia Correctional Institution.

The 'Plainfield Ghoul' was suspected to have murdered and cannibalised at least 15 women. He adorned his house and body with female body parts. He was found insane, and died in Mendota Mental Health Institute in 1984.

Clifford Olson is one of Canada's most prolific serial killers. He murdered children and teenagers of both sexes in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley regions of British Columbia from November 1980 until July 1981.

"B.T.K." (for Bind - Torture - Kill) was active in the Wichita, Kansas, area. In February, 2005, Dennis Rader was arrested. In June, 2005, he confessed to the murders of ten people between 1974 and 1991.

Dr Harold Frederick Shipman was convicted of killing at least 215 people, possibly 260, while working as a general practitioner in Hyde, Greater Manchester, and Todmorden, West Yorkshire in the UK. He was given 15 life sentences in 2000, but committed suicide while in prison in January 2004.